


Et Sic Incipimus Iterum (The Crown of Flowers remix)

by RedQueen



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: 2016 Camelot Remix, First Time, Illustrated, M/M, Pastoral, Slight Age Difference
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-06-05 08:44:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6697894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedQueen/pseuds/RedQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are two kinds of beauty. </p><p>One is a more obvious sort, the kind found in cleverness, wit and shrewdness of mind. The other is earthier and plain, found in the roughness of cliff stones or in the blunt, honest eyes of an animal. Merlin hadn't thought there could be such a thing within man until he saw the high princess' brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Departure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [glim](https://archiveofourown.org/users/glim/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Et in arcadia ego](https://archiveofourown.org/works/224345) by [glim](https://archiveofourown.org/users/glim/pseuds/glim). 



> Dear Glim, as a first time remixer (is that a word?) - I cannot say how simultaneously nerve wracking and amazing it was to have you for a remixee, simply because there were such great fics to choose from and also because I wanted to do justice to the piece I chose. What I loved about this story was the amount of world building you managed to do with barely any words at all, and I tried to bring that world to life through art. Whether or not I have succeeded is another story, but I definitely had fun doing it (even though it is clear that I am more of an artist than a writer.) I also apologize in advance for bad Latin.
> 
> _“That is not dead which can eternal lie,_  
>  _and with strange aeons even death may die.”_  
>  \- The Nameless City.

 

* * *

 

 The white dragon tells him to think of the journey as a gift, and Merlin does.

 

* * *

 

He's less inclined to believe in that once the storms hit.

He weathers one, then two, and even a third but after that his boat can't take anymore.  
He wakes on a grassy beach to find two people staring at him. A girl who leaves, and a boy who doesn't. 

   
  
His face is the last thing Merlin sees before his eyes slip shut.

 

* * *

 

 

 


	2. Arcadia

 

The land is called Pantaleria.

 

 It is a kingdom of shepherds with a high priestess as heir-in-waiting. 

Under her protection its lands are as peaceful as they are prosperous.  
Apart from the blonde knight, the inhabitants haven't even seen another swordsman.

 

* * *

 

  | 

Not yet of age, Morgana is still unwed, rumours of a dalliance with the blonde knight notwithstanding. Merlin finds himself drawn.

The princess is clever, and as skilled as she is beautiful; master of the nurturing magicks that keep their land well. Her father and the nobility bend easily to her charm. She is the jewel of the council.

|    
---|---|---  
  |  |    
  | 

The prince, in comparison, is uncomplicated. Simple, even.

Second born and with no magic of his own, he has no head for artifice or wordplay. There is little chance for a future at court. It does not help that his face reflects his thoughts utterly, like a clear mirror.

Merlin sees then, that Arthur knows all of this already.

|    
  
 

* * *

 

  | 

It is only by sheer happenstance that Merlin sees him, and all the ways he loves his people. How he serves those who no one will fight for, arguing on their behalf with the king. But somehow, always only where no one else will ever see. 

|    
---|---|---  
  | 

|    
  | 

Arthur's speech is rough and clumsy compared to Morgana's, and he wields his honesty like an ill-weighted blade. It reminds Merlin of the coarseness of dragon tongue, of how you can never lie when you speak in it.

It reminds him of the blunt men of the north. Of home.  

|    
  
 

* * *

 

  | 

When the pastoral games are announced, Merlin dons his own ceremonial armour for the first time since his arrival. They call for the Knight of the Dragon and he nods to the king, but it is Arthur he truly bows to. The sudden shock that chases across the prince's face when he sees Morgause bow similarly to Morgana only makes him all the more alluring.

|    
---|---|---  
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|    
  | 

It is Merlin's favourite of all of Arthur's faces, twin to the one when Arthur had watched Merlin practice his swordplay and his magic. Merlin had bowed low then too, only to find himself uttering the speech of dragons to a boy who could not understand it, saying,

"Now you've a knight of your own, my prince."  

|    
  
* * *


	3. Rursus ad initium

 

* * *

 

  | 

Later that night they head out to the plains.

|    
---|---|---  
  |  |    
  | 

As they watch the stars wheel above, there comes a moment where Merlin sees Arthur - truly sees him, with the kind of clarity that only comes once in a lifetime.

The man in his mind is Arthur of Pantaleria, but not... quite. This Arthur is rougher, older. Beautiful still, in Merlin's eyes, and surrounded by dragons. His little shepherd prince, with his flock of Fire-breaths and Goldentails and Bladed-tooths. Arthur of the dragons.

  


* * *

|    
  | 

Arthur _chief-_ dragon.

|    
---|---|---  
  | 

|    
  |  _My_ shepherd prince," Merlin murmurs aloud and Arthur laughs at him, saying that he doesn't actually tend the sheep. Merlin cannot help but kiss him then. |     
  
 

* * *

 

  | Arthur takes the final step from boy to man that midsummer's night, surrounded by the plains and the stars, and laughter and love. Merlin gives his prince free reign both over his body and his magic. He knows now that his journey is at an end, and that his time at Pantaleria is short. |    
---|---|---  
  |   
  
  | As dawn starts to unfurl her flags, Merlin weaves Arthur a dragon. He calls it from the air, capturing it onto a coin that he presses first to his lips, and then into Arthur's palms. |    
  
 

* * *

 

  | 

The sun is high when he returns, with a full fleet carrying all the riches of Bohemia, to honour both his promise and his prince.

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|   |    
  
 

* * *


End file.
